Tried playing it through the emulator when I was about 12 years old, couldn't beat the story mode due to some problems with the controls and the game constantly crashing on me for some reason, of course I couldn't figure out why at that time.
But still, even if most of it can be done by button mashing certain cheesy moves, the game is mostly pretty fun.
And dont get me started on the sprites, they are gorgeous. They were also used for the Sonic RPG flash games, which were a HUGE part of my childhood.

Sonic Battle is a game that shouldn’t be stuck on the GBA, as it has so much potential as a simple but fun fighting game.

I love the presentation, the jagged outlines and black borders give it a unique and striking look, and the way the sprites move are a fantastic evolution of the Advance sprites.

Combat wise it does work, every character has a few different options for special moves as well as their own basic attacks and movement. There’s also newcomer Emerl, who can copy other characters abilities through the games story mode, and he can become unbelievably powerful, something that would be fun to play against friends with their own emerls…

But what’s the likelihood of that happening now, you need link cables to play multiplayer and this game never got rereleased. Also levelling up Emerl takes forever, learning good skills is a nightmare, and equipping them requires so many skill points.

You also have to play this games story mode which… is awful. The story itself isn’t bad at all, it’s very similar in tone to the Adventure era, and I like how we see so many perspectives on the plot. But the structure kills it, as you repeat the same battles again and again and again. It’s incredibly tedious and I just can’t ever imagine completing this more than once.

It’s a shame because there’s tons of potential here, but Sonic Battle just ain’t there.

Talk about a wasted opportunity. A fighting game with Sonic characters is such easy money, but this ain't it.

First impressions were all over the place. The art is out-fucking-standing, this is SUCH a good look for the gang, but I swear I felt my ears bleeding a little bit with that Mode Select BGM. Whoever decided to use that guitar sample for multiple tracks in the game, you have a special place in hell set aside for you. The soundtrack as a whole is pretty weak, with a couple exceptions (Holy Summit is so good, no wonder they brought it back for Advance 3.)

The writing is cheeky and fun, and the story itself was entertaining enough but good lord the progression here is absolute dogshit. How do you like fighting the same character twice(or more!) in a row, with more rounds each time? How about selecting a random building just for shits and giggles since it's your first time playing, only to be assaulted by Emerl clones because you dared to explore a little bit?
The moment I realized I could win most battles by either spamming normal attacks or special R attacks, you bet your ass that turbo button was on and the frameskip was rolling. While the combat system is interesting on the surface, it's just not very satisfying. Even when customizing Emerl with new skills, every fight feels like a slapfest, with everyone waving those foam spaghetti things in the air.

Uh, what else... Oh, it looks really good. Sonic's GBA entries always had beautiful sprites, and Battle brought so many great animations to the whole cast. I also love the 3D environments, always cool to see that on the GBA, even though I wished it was a normal 2D fighting game instead.

That really just sums it up. I wish this was a regular ass 2D fighter on the PS2 or some shit. Instead, we have a weird arena fighter with some interesting ideas that ultimately aren't very satisfying. The story isn't good enough to warrant playing this all the way to completion, I feel. Cute character moments don't make up for all the "fight Gamma again for the millionth time" you have to sit through.